miette vs. paulette

french macarons are a simple complex little cookie. they are airy chewy almond cookie sandwiched with jelly. i love these two places that make equally yummy macarons in san francisco. a must try for both. their websites are just pretty and girlie and just nice to look at.

miette organic bakery on chestnut in the marina, octavia in hayes valley, and the ferry building www.miettecakes.com/

paulettes in hayes valley on 437 Hayes St San Francisco, CA 94102 415.864.2400 http://www.paulettemacarons.com/


viva la macarons! :9

post-bundt disaster therapy

waldorf Astoria double chocolate cherry cookies http://waldorf.web01.i-sites.com/waldorf_cookbook/recipe2/

After my bundt disaster, I needed to bake something that I could feel confident that would turn out. Um, I neglected to fully read the mixing instructions. Getting in to it, it was definitely necessary for me to leave my stupid roots at the door and concentrate. It turned out to be a bit more challenging than your average cookie recipe (especially one that I thought it was going to be a just glorified chocolate chocolate chip cookie). Luckily, it turned out great. Not a great kid participation recipe, but more of a solo zen journey type.

It involved whisking the eggs and sugars over heat to create a kind of custard before mixing in the melted chocolates. I had to make sure that the eggs didn’t scramble with the heat being too hot. I think I developed a baby python out of my whisking arm. They suggest you use an electric beater, which I didn’t have. ☹ but it was pretty fun when it turned out doing it the old school way.

They are decadent with three different chocolates and the dried cherry. It a soft cookie, so if you are looking for a crispy cookie I’d just go with the regular Hershey package recipe. :)

butter ingredient mishap

my matcha chocolate bundt cake butter mishap.

loved the look of this recipe and was excited to try it out. Definitely, it was user error.

the dry ingredient journey was nice and zen.

then, the butter… (sorry, didn’t get this on digital picture for some reason)

looks like I made a typical novice mistake of using over softened butter. after creaming the butter with sugar, I added the milk and the mixture started to separate to an oily liquid with floating milk sugar solids.

the result, and a duh moment for me, was that it lost the emulsion characteristic and made it a dense brownie and non-cake texture, more gooey. also, it stuck to the pan more.

l e s s o n : for baking, resist the rush to get butter to room temperature or leave it out too long.

“Butter adds flavor and texture to your baking and helps to keep it fresh. The temperature of the butter is very important in baking. When room temperature butter is used in your recipe this means your butter should be between 65 degrees F (18 degrees C) and 70 degrees F (21 degrees C). This temperature allows the maximum amount of air to be beaten into your batter. This creaming or beating of your butter or butter and sugar creates air bubbles that your leavener (baking powder or baking soda) will enlarge during baking. Most experts recommend 4 to 5 minutes of creaming the butter for maximum aeration.”

thanks “joyofbaking.com”! Read more: http://www.joyofbaking.com/Butter.html#ixzz0ESjQ7OQy&A


off to try again. ☺

savor-ite things

these are a few of my favorite things i like to savor:


















> mario batalli's enoteca otto pizzeria, nyc
http://www.ottopizzeria.com/

> boccaloni salumi sampler cone, san francisco ferry building
www.boccalone.com

> creamy affogato from citizen cake cafe, san francisco. elizabeth faulkner knows how to complement her wonderful baking magic
www.citizencake.com

arizona eats

one of our all time favorite places in phoenix to eat and caffeine out, arcadia.

la grande orange grocery, the best place to get a latte, capuccino or just coffee and sit. their deli has wonderful sandwiches, salads and yummy baked goods from tammy coe cakes.

postino's wine bar has the greatest selection of wines (happy hour prices before 5pm), and the bruschetta board (get to choose 4 different ones).

postino winebar cafe is in the old arcadia post office. wonderful brick building with outdoor dining area.

postino wine bar cafe
3939 E Campbell Ave

Phoenix, AZ 85018

(602) 852-3939

www.postinowinecafe.com

red velvet adventure

my pretty red velvet cupcakes. recipe by paula deen.

no disrespect to tradition, but i just could not help myself, being a dark chocoholic, i used 1 tbsp of dark cocoa instead of paula's understated 1 tsp of regular cocoa. ;)

love piping the frosting!!! when in doubt definitely pipe it! pretty nice results that are easy for me, a novice, to do.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/red-velvet-cupcakes-with-cream-cheese-frosting-recipe/index.html